You Thought that THAT was Hard?
by SugarcaneSoldier
Summary: Alternatively titled 'A Woman's Attempt at Peaceful Governance.' We all know how this starts, so… let's skip to the end instead. Taking on the world went better than could be reasonably expected, but Tanya's knowledge of the future is next to useless. Still… the Reich has a few alliances, Europe has been pacified, and, if things do go badly, South America is an option…
1. The Final Victory

**_February 15th, 1944:_ **

In contrast to the last two decades, when I was incredibly unhappy with how my life was going…

In contrast to the last eight years, when worry and fear about the war had been hanging on my mind…

In contrast to the last two years, when I was utterly terrified of the war turning around in an instant and being consumed by death and explosions, despite the constant assurances of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, Elya and the Secret Police, and Visha…

In contrast to my state of mind only yesterday, when I had been terribly, _ unimaginably _upset and angry…

I am now calm. The order has already been given, and I'm now here, staring down at the microphone held in my gloved hands which concealed my sweaty palms. I can do nothing but give the speech I've prepared, and hope they see reason afterwards.

A flicker – or a roaring flame – of sorrow and anger and, above all, _ guilt _ raked through my insides, but I quashed it down, as I have with a great amount of guilt I felt during my time as the Fuhrer of the Reich.

Everyone around me, during the last three months, and even before then, had assured me that the order I gave less than a day ago was _ necessary _.

Doing this would prevent millions of deaths, on both sides.

Trying to take the island through amphibious landings and marching through the countryside would take at least six months, if not much, much longer.

The inhabitants were crafty. They wouldn't allow their country to be taken without making everyone pay for every inch we won and they lost in gallons of blood.

We had a list of purely military targets that weren't _ too _ important to the inhabitants' culture.

I smiled sardonically as the flurry of activity around me began to die down. It was almost funny, really, how similar those justifications were to the ones in my world.

Nagasaki and Hiroshima weren't _ just _ military targets. They had plenty of culture and history and, above all, _ civilians _ in them, too.

I sighed as the activity continued to die down, and people began to turn to me, as everyone was almost… _ trained _to do. Those two cities had also had lots of military stuff too, and right now, it seemed that I would have to believe what everyone around me kept saying.

Millions of the Reichish and the Albish wouldn't die trying to subdue the famously unassailable Isles. Months, or even years, were being saved by destroying just a few cities. A guerrilla war wouldn't spring up throughout the isles and lead to decades of resource-draining pacification efforts.

I grimaced. Two cities – or more – would be forever scarred thanks to my actions.

The activity around me finally died down completely, and though I wanted to sigh, I held it in. I felt my expression being dragged down by my sinking spirits, and-

"Come on, Fuhr- Tanya. This is the final push. After this, peace will be restored." A voice broke the suffocating silence, and I looked up to stare at the woman.

I smiled widely. Visha, as she had done for so, _ so _long, supported me.

That is all I need.

Probably.

I drew in a deep breath, and I nodded to the young woman operating the radio controls – some aid or secretary of Elya's that I couldn't remember the name of right now.

She flicked a few levers, and I knew that Europe was coming to a screeching halt.

In Legadonia, their Council of Ten – reduced to a Council of Eight, in name, with the invasion of Greenland and Iceland – was watching their backs, as nervous as they ever were about being taken over by Fascists, regardless of whether they were their homegrown variant or the ones currently running the Reich.

In the Francois State – colloquially known as Roanne France, thanks to the location of their _ de facto _ capital in the few years the Reich had taken over the north – the leaders were stopping their attempts at outmaneuvering the Albish in the channel.

In Ildoa, I had no doubt that Mussolini and his generals were contemplating breaking away and moving on the Turkmen Principalities, despite the fact that an invasion from Albion was likely to happen during the summer. They were listening for any hint of a suggestion that such a thing was on the table.

The Turkmen Sultan and his court were undoubtedly going through complicated, out-of-date ceremonies to accept the Albish territory they had managed to hold onto in Egypt, while the President was doing most of the real work, wondering what the hell I was troubling him with now.

Throughout the East, the former constituents of the Russy Federation were hardly paying attention, too happy at being free from their overlord once more. A lot of that happiness, I was sure, was masking their fear that I was going to take Dzhugashvili's place.

It was not just my allies that were tuning in, I knew. Enemies – across the channel and around the world – were waiting to hear the words from my mouth or get transcripts from spies or ambassadors in Albion. The far off Akitsushiman's were wondering if I was ever going to come to their aid against the Unified States and the People's Republic of Chin.

I opened my mouth. There was no more putting it off.

The bomber had their target – I had wasted two months going over a litany of lists and hoping the Albish would see reason before then.

The bomber was already flying towards the town I had picked out – I had wasted two weeks trying to work up the nerve to order them to carry out the operation.

What was done was done. My fear couldn't stop me anymore. I was the only one in the Reich with the power to order…

To order the destruction of a city. I had ordered men to fly towards a town full of civilians and destroy it.

Guilt ate at me, and I stared at Viktoriya. She gave me one of her sad smiles.

I fought the urge to stare miserably at her. That didn't really help all that much… but I was taking what I could get at this point.

I stared down at the microphone once more. This was it.

"Citizens of the Reich. Members of the Pact of Steel. Spies. Ambassadors. Men of Peace. Men of War."

My English was no longer accented by Japanese, but by Germanian. I paused, for a short moment, to make sure that I put as much of the guilt I felt into my next word. "Churchville."

I sighed loudly. "Everyone and anyone that is listening to this, whether you are historians looking back at me and my decisions, a schoolchild, or even God himself."

I grit my teeth at that, but this needed to be genuine, and people still believed in religion.

"A little over an hour ago, leaflets were dropped on the city of Hull. Unlike the usual leaflets we distributed, however, these were warning to evacuate the city."

I gripped the microphone harder. "Right now, a plane is heading towards a city the Reich has left alone, for the most part. In under ten minutes, the city of Hull will be scarred forever."

I frowned. "The world will note that the first atomic bomb will be dropped on the city of Hull. We won the race of discovery against the Americans. The Reich is using it to shorten the agony of war, and to preserve the lives of thousands and thousands of men and women, Reichish and Albish alike."

I took another deep breath. "In your darkest hour, I urge the Albish people: do _ not _ fight this war. Do _ not _ continue to follow the gospel words of Churchville. This _ must _end."

"Make no mistake, the Reich _ will _ enter Albion. However, whether we see a people, battered, but unbroken and _ alive _ , or piles of rubble and ash, is your decision. This conflict _ must _ end before the world is destroyed, before the race of man is so consumed by hatred and grief that it destroys itself."

"THIS MUST END!"

There was silence, and then I motioned towards the aid. They flipped the levers back, and the room was quiet.

I stared at the faces of my friends. Visha. Elya. Weiss. Koenig. Grantz. Neumann. Rerugen.

I stared at the faces of my allies. Romel. Speer. Rohm. Arent. Gerstein.

I stared at the clock on the wall above their heads-

My eyes widened while my pupils dilated. It was stopped. _ It was stopp- _

"YOU!" I shouted at the empty air. I clasped at my neck, only to realize that the Type 95 Mk. II was not there, but in my pocket. I felt the urge to bring it out and destroy it, to wish that I hadn't ever ordered Schugel to make the damn thing, to-

"Tanya."

I spun around, looking for his image or the person he had possessed or-

"None of that today, young lady. I am very cross with you."

I flinched, for a moment, as he _ dared _to refer to me as a woman when no one around me had made that mistake in years.

I opened my mouth and glared, but he didn't give me a chance to speak. "You cannot do this."

I felt one of my eyes twitch, and I decided to bring out the cursed Computation Orb and stare hatefully at that.

As soon as it was out, I raised irate eyebrow. "Oh? Can't you be a bit more specific than that? I've done quite a lot lately that you probably don't approve of."

His ringing laughter echoed around the small room. Elya had suggested that I make this speech in front of Congress, but I hadn't been able to keep a stoic face _ here _, surrounded by friends and confidants. It would be worse to do it standing in a room of people that would applaud my every word.

"You can't keep loving that woman! You even _ told _ her about your past life! You can't push everyone towards Atheism! You can't do anything until you praise me!"

I scoffed at the small metal piece of clockwork in my hand. "Oh yeah? Just because you decided that I should be a girl doesn't mean I have to be one, and your third statement is plainly wrong. I haven't pushed anyone to renounce you. I'm not brain dead enough to do that and expect to not get hit by a train again."

I felt pissed off skepticism radiating from around me, and I shrugged. "Hey, I haven't _ pushed _anyone into renouncing you. If they figured out that your whole organization is a hoax after I delivered a few salient facts to them, how is it my fault?"

I decided to add fuel to the fire as I realized something beyond the guilt of ordering nukes to be dropped on Albion.

They would surrender, just as Japan had. Sooner or later, they _ had _to surrender. We'd been firebombing them for years. The Entente and Francois Navies were helping us keep them isolated on their island.

They had to surrender, and if _ they _ gave up, America would have no way to keep us occupied while they tried to island hop across the pacific.

I had _ won _. It had cost far, far too much, but the Reich, me, Visha…

We had won!

As I realized that fact, I grinned at the thing clutched in my hand. "They've realize just how unimportant religion is, just like _ you _."

I spun around a bit. "After all, I've been safe in the Reich for years now, despite that traitor Einstein…"

_ That _ was a bit of a sore spot. The man had jumped ship, _ in the middle of the war _, and had made it to the Americans, along with way too much of our research into nuclear technology. I was fairly sure I knew why he had left – I hadn't come up with the idea of putting myself in control of literal Nazis, after all – but I wanted to hear it from him.

Being X chuckled again, though it was a fair bit creepier this time. "I manipulated him into fleeing. Oh, he was probably going to leave your 'Reich' after the war was over anyway, but a few things he overheard about the NSDAP's origins led him into making wild conclusions and fleeing. I'm more amused that you think you're safe."

My eyes narrowed, and I sent a hand towards the Type 97 Mk. II that hung from my neck. What-

He laughed again. "Oh, not right now, you idiot. _ Later _."

My head tilted. What did he mean?

I felt… _ smugness _ radiating from around me. "You might be powerful enough to stave off any assassination attempts, but you _ are _ still human. Whether it's in a few years from exhaustion due to fleeing from an angry people, or if it's in over seventy from old age, you _ will _ die."

I rolled my eyes. "And then what? I get put on the wheel of reincarnation, just like you-"

"Who said that I had to keep my word, _ hmm _?"

I was about to complain that he had cut me off, but my thoughts jumped well ahead of any indignation I felt, right into a bundle of confusion and panic.

I managed to get out a word. "What-"

He laughed again. "What, you thought I was telling the _ truth _ ? Of _ course _ I'd never reincarnate you after all the problems you've caused me here! I'll keep sending you into new lives, new bodies, from now until the end of _ existence itself _ , whenever the Hell _ that _ happens."

I shook my head. "But the sunk cost fallacy-"

He snorted. "You think I care about a thing like that? HA! That only applies if I can't break you down into tiny pieces and use you to spread my name, Tanya. I have a functionally infinite number of worlds to send you to next."

I stared down at the Type 95 Mk. II, and I saw his grinning visage staring up at me. "A very nice number of them are much, _ much _ worse than this place is. One will break you, and you'll give me everything I've put into you and _ more _."

I was trying not to panic – think of Visha in bed, think of Visha in bed – but his next words shattered the mantra I'd been using since '36.

"Still, you're young. You've got a long life ahead of you, and if you thought that THAT was hard – killing Hitler, leading Germany, consolidating a nation made up of a plethora of warring minorities, fighting against half of Europa, dropping a nuke – then you _ won't _be ready for what's coming."

My head swam. The Cold War…

The threat of global annihilation. The decolonization of Africa. The space race. Korea. Vietnam. Indonesia. The installation of puppet regimes across the world. The Middle East. Dozens and dozens of proxy wars…

Only, there wasn't a Soviet Russia to battle a United States, but a Reich and Unified States and an Akitsushiman Empire.

He chuckled again. "With the threat of Nuclear War, you will _ have _ to bend to my will if you want to save everyone."

"What do you mean?" I said with far too little stuttering for how much I was panicking internally.

He knew I was growing terrified. "Oh, you don't think magic is related to nuclear physics in this world? Hell no!"

"Of course, it isn't a _ large _ part of it, but mana is in everything here. If you ever build too many, or if you don't serve me, or if I get bored I can just… set one off!"

I opened my mouth to tell him that I would put as many safeties into the damn things as I could, but he cut me off again.

"Speaking of things with mana in them, your Type 95 Mk. II!"

My eyes widened, and I fought to let go of the thing in my hands. I turned my hand over and bent my fingers away from it.

It did not fall to the ground. It was heating up.

"Schugel was oh so kind to build in a fail-safe – centered around the 66th gear, as I would have it to make a shitty Star Wars reference – that will detonate it if its user ever needed it to. Of course, you never read that manual, _ did you _?"

I shook her hand, trying to remove it, even as he laughed. I finally gripped it with my left hand and began to tug. It came out of my right, but the glassy 'orb' that gave the things their names was now stuck to my left.

"You won't die, of course – he thought it was supposed to be used as a grenade, as you did with the first one when 'you' totaled Sioux as well as a good portion of Moskva – but I guarantee _ nothing _for your bitch and your lap dogs!"

He was laughing, for a moment, and then time resumed. My allies were smiling supportively, while my friends were looking just as unhappy about this as I had felt moments ago.

None of that mattered. I had seconds to act, to react.

I knew it was going to detonate. I knew it would probably destroy a large part of Berun.

I did not care about that.

I knew it would probably kill me, even if he claimed that it wouldn't. He had shown himself to be a liar, on top of a braggart and fake god.

I did not care about that.

As the Type 95 Mk. II continued to heat up, I looked to Visha. To my friends. To my confidants.

For one second, I completed the calculations for one of the Reich's greatest weapons.

The Energy Conversion Formula.

It was grounded in Einstein's most famous equation – which I may or may not have given him the idea for on accident, I wasn't _ entirely _sure.

That equation wasn't the same in this world – it had to account for the presence of mana – but it propelled our scientific research ahead leaps and bounds.

One of the fruits of that discovery was the Energy Conversion Formula. It converted a person's body into pure, usable mana, allowing for more powerful formulas at the cost of physical degradation.

I felt myself wither away for two seconds as I powered the Type 97 Mk. II to levels it had never achieved. During those two seconds, the others in the room began to realize what was happening – something was wrong with the Type 95 Mk. II.

I had briefed them all about such an occasion, and they began to throw up Active Barriers. I knew they would probably be useless.

And then, for three seconds, I layered as many Active Barrier formulas I could around the Type 95 Mk. II. Seeing as it was gripped in my left hand, that meant I lost what little feeling I had left in the hand.

Finally, in another three seconds, I propelled myself through a wall and into the open air of Berun. Many people looked like they were just starting to go about their day after my speech, broadcasted around the city, ended, and I paid them no more mind.

For two seconds, I propelled myself upwards, away from Berun and the people I led and had bled for and the woman I loved and had made love to and-

BRIGHT

FIRE

AGONY

PAIN

Then I knew nothing.

-OxOxO-

** _February 29th, 1944: _ **

Elya stared around the room angrily. The hundreds of men and women before her – the Legislators – were talking among themselves a bit, but most were quietly staring up at her. Things had been hectic for the last two weeks.

Without the Fuhrer or the Vice Fuhrer, Elya had been thrust into the position of leading the country. She would have liked to oversee the protection of her two closest friends, but someone needed to lead the country.

Instead, she'd tasked Weiss and Koenig with protecting the Fuhrer and his eventual-wife while she lead the country. She smirked cruelly, and the last of the conversation died down.

"Legislators of the Congress of the Reich. The war is nearly won. Akitsushima has won their war against the despotic Chin Communists and have turned their full attention to America."

That was only partially a lie. At Tanya's insistence, the Reich had been working closely with the Akitsushiman Empire for years, and they were technically in a favorable position against the People's Republic of Chin.

Unfortunately, they had been losing more and more to the Americans every day. Some place called Iwo Jima had fallen recently, and the Americans seemed to be preparing to fully commit to aiding the Chin.

So, they had done the smart thing and called for a truce. Things were still taking shape, but it seemed they would be setting up some kind of puppet state in the north called Manchin.

Without one less state they were at war with, Akitsushima was hoping to spend more resources consolidating what they had in Australia and the Philippines, trying to contend with what little the Albish had left in Insulindia and the massive number of ships the Americans were sending over.

Elya had been hoping that that would convince the Albish to give, but they were intent of fighting to the last. Churchville had made an idiotic speech about never surrendering.

She smirked. "Today, I am proud to announce that despite their attempt to assassinate the Fuhrer, Albion will be brought to heel. They have not surrendered, as per the terms outlined in the Tver Declaration. They have not even _ thought _of giving up yet."

Elya's victorious smile hid just how furious she was, because they didn't know _ what _ had caused the Type 95 Mk. II to go off. Schugel had been detained, of course, but he hadn't let anything slip.

Blaming the Albish for their problems worked for Tanya, however, so she'd just plucked a few pages from his book. The men assembled before her seemed just as angry as she felt about the attack, and Elya continued.

She stood up even straighter. "Just an hour ago, I, as acting Fuhrer, ordered another bomb to be dropped, as per Tanya von Degurechaff's orders."

That wasn't all that she had done. Tanya had seemed convinced that the Albish would give up after dropping a few nukes on their islands, but Elya wasn't. The old plans for Operation Sea Dragons had been brought out, and a conventional landing would be made in a little over five months, assuming they _ still _hadn't given up by then.

She smiled. "The white cliffs of Dover will be stained red with the blood of the Albish dogs that still refuse to surrender. Churchville's failure to surrender will stain his hands with the blood of his countrymen."

She decided to finish this quickly. Things in the east still needed to be consolidated. Some… internal matters needed to be taken care of.

"I have no fear in telling the Albish that if they do not surrender, London will be obliterated."

With that, she turned away. The flash of camera bulbs, from high up in the guest area, nearly blinded her, but she paid them no mind.

That last statement was an outright lie. Tanya had talked about the need to reconcile once the war was over, and destroying London would ensure that the Reich was reviled for all time, according to him.

Still, Elya was confident. The bomb had probably already gone off by now. The next one wouldn't be complete until next month, but Elya was okay with waiting a while.

She shook her head. Honestly, if Tanya wasn't so secretive, she'd probably be able to do a better job, but he kept his personal thoughts to himself and Visha.

She shrugged. Until Tanya and Visha woke up from their comas, Elya would lead the country and the Pact of Steel and the whole of Europa as best she could.

-OxOxO-

**A/N 1:** If you've read my other story, 'She WHAT,' you'll know that I had another plot bunny when I wrote that one.

This is that plot bunny.

'The Leader' and 'A Young Woman's Political Record' are interesting, and I don't really think I could do anything better than they have in the lead up to WW2 and the war itself, so I decided that we should see what happens _after _Tanya leads her country to victory.

Tanya's going to have to deal with a three-way Cold War, and it will _not_ be pretty. At least she can speed along the creation of the European Union to cheat, right? That couldn't have any negative long-term consequences.

Oh well. Look forward to seeing Tanya in space, Tanya dealing with the effects of transition into peacetime, and ruminating on what happens when she does eventually kick the bucket, as well as the steps she will take to adapt to whatever world Being X throws her in.

Also, a huge shout out to GremlinJack. I told them as much, but the idea of other cultures having different kinds of magic beyond the European brand was wonderful. I'll be using that idea in this work.

**A/N 2: **Edit on 12/14/2019: Major changes made to layout, rearranged and added portions, and changed Tanya's pronouns.


	2. Waking Up

_**Feburary 24th, 1928:**_

I slashed at the woman in front of me, wishing once more that I had any backup at all.

Unfortunately, the Russy Federation had managed to drag some Mages out of some hole in Siberia, and, along with the foreign volunteers, they were giving my battalion hell.

I sped off once more, avoiding a spray of bullets. The woman had learned to aim, in the years since Tiegenhoff. No longer did she rely on those disgusting beams of power to terrify her opponents into submission and break through any barrier in front of her.

She could do that plenty fine with just her rifle, which saved her a lot of energy.

I continued to duck and dodge through the air, making sure to keep her just as occupied as she was keeping me. Even a tiny distraction would give the other an edge.

An edge enough to kill each other? No, we had fought too much to get something like that. Instead, any edge would be quickly directing into the other Mages we spun around. If she killed some of the 203rd, or if I killed some of her comrades…

One would gain the advantage, the other would order a retreat, and we would do this song and dance in a week or two.

Honestly, if it weren't for how determined she was to kill me, I might have liked the fact that we only had to fight four times a month and spend the rest of the time recuperating. I might have even thought she was _trying _to wait out the war, just like I wanted to.

We fought, for longer and longer and longer. Eventually, the Type 97 couldn't keep up with her – it was an unfortunate fact that the Americans had either made a Dual-Core Computation Orb, or Being X was giving her a lot more than he gave me.

It didn't matter. I began my false chant. "**Oh lord, who graces the Empire with your divine guidance: deliver your servant the power to destroy the enemies of your heavenly kingdom!"**

The woman's eyes widened, and I smirked. _She _would be on the backfoot-

But nothing came. Nothing seemed to happen.

I felt no swell in my mana. I felt no ease in controlling the Type 95. I didn't even feel my consciousness fading like usual.

Her eyes, wide and frightened, grew wider.

They did _not _grow more frightened.

Instead, I could see pride, joy, hate, anger, and, most of all, _satisfaction _burning to life on her face.

She laughed, flying towards me. Unfortunately for her, the Type 95 was not providing me with lift, and the Type 97 had been deactivated in preparation for the Type 95.

I dropped like a meteor. The woman looked around angrily and then took off after me. I could see that she was taking a great amount of time in lining up her rifle.

I had enough time to reactivate the Type 97, thankfully. I avoided her aim, wondering what the hell I would do now.

It was obvious what was happening – Being X was probably fed up with me giving him nothing but lip service. He wanted more, and I wouldn't give it to him.

I swerved upwards and behind the woman as gunfire raked across my Active Barrier. Things…

They were not looking good.

In fact, this was probably the worst things had ever been.

As such, I was _probably _going to die. I don't have the mana to continue to compete with her, especially with how… vehement her attacks were becoming.

The only way to avoid death, then, would be to run – impossible, since the General Staff would have me shot for treason and I would have to leave my battalion behind – to give in to Being X – also impossible – or…

To try something really, _really _fucking stupid.

I had not been idle, during my free time on this front. The woman across from me, from what I had been able to glean from the POWs, was named Mary Sioux.

The name hadn't rung any bells until we had a whole three days leave – which was actually just a reassignment to the Francois Republic's captured lands to make sure the Albish didn't try anything – a whole six months after being told the woman's name. Once there, I finally figured out who that idiot who had tried to _kamikaze _me was.

Anson Sioux. A father or uncle, perhaps?

I don't care which. If this Mary Sioux was ruled by her emotions, if she had been given her powers in the wake of some anger-fueled oath of revenge against me, then I know just how to _tick her off._

I ducked and dodged her for a few moments more, just long enough to find where Viktoriya in a fierce fight with someone that I had noticed this Sioux was paying close attention to.

I continued my slow, methodical retreat away from her attacks, slowly steering them closer and closer and closer and-

I broke away from the woman, changing targets in an instant. I pulled my rifle back, snarling as both Viktoriya and the woman realized I was coming.

No one could stop this. No one had expected it – I hadn't expected to pull off this kind of bullshit, and I never would have tried it if things could be dragged to a status quo – but Sioux still managed to do something.

She cried out.

"VIVI!"

It did nothing but waste her breath.

I tore a hole through the woman's Active Barrier with a small bit of trouble. It only took a bit more to drive my blade through her clothing, and her chest, and out of her back.

I quickly spun around, ready to-

"VISHA!"

My adjutant spun around just in time to watch Sioux raise her rifle up.

I jetted forward, an Active Barrier springing to life in front of me. It wouldn't – couldn't – be enough, but-

Then, I felt my course being altered. Wide-eyed, I watched as Viktoriya sent me a sad, soft smile as one of her hands rose up.

I had taught her that trick. Decoupling the Flight formula from the user and to another object took quite a bit of mental gymnastics, but my – admittedly childish – desire to imitate Luke Skywalker for a few moments had led to a week's worth of work.

I had done it, of course, and that trick had got more than a small bit of usage, which was more than I had ever expected. Viktoriya had caught me using it, once, and I taught her how to do it after swearing her to secrecy.

I would have even been proud – altering the course of another mage hurtling through the air is no small feat – if that Sioux bitch wasn't currently driving her bayonet down thro_ugh Viktoriya's shoul-_

I was sent on a crash course with Sioux, instead of with Viktoriya. I watched, my anger growing, as Viktoriya dropped like a stone.

My own rifle was pointed straight at her, and I felt – _anger hatred fear triumph _– as I speared her through the belly.

She looked down, and I decided to be thorough. I swiped at the girl's chest, taking whatever Computation Orb-

And the girl mirrored my own motions, taking the Computation Orb around my neck away.

I blinked as the Type 95 began to glow brightly, and I saw the girl's eyes glow gold, and then pure white.

I would have backed away, but I would also _absolutely _die if Sioux managed to get that thing working. Instead, I kept my rifle right where it was – impaled in the bitch's stomach – and poured my own mana into the Type 95. I even began to pray, regardless if it wouldn't actually activate its powers anymore.

The white light issuing from the woman's eyes turned to me, but I merely smiled as the Type 95 heated up. Even 'Divine Intervention' could only stretch physics so far.

I jumped away from the girl. The shock of my rifle being removed made Sioux pause for a moment, but that didn't last long.

She had other matters to attend to.

Her flight began to grow erratic, and then she began to stumble through the air. Even if she _had _had Being X's 'blessing,' it was very, very difficult to control all four orbs at once. I aimed my rifle, and-

I blinked in confusion. The girl was gone. I looked around, trying to find her, and I soon did.

My eyebrows creased. She was flying… far off into the distance. I looked around myself, trying to see if there were any other enemies.

The woman's allies, seeing her retreat, decided that continuing to fight would be a horrible idea. They began to disperse. I grinned. Good, they could-

Then, the past five minutes caught up with her, and she darted downwards. Viktoriya!

I made it to the ground in record time, and my Observation formula was up even faster. Where was she, where was-

Then, I found her. I shot up above the tree line and shot back down as the rest of the 203rd finally caught up to me.

I looked down at the trail she had made as she crashed down. It was at least twenty feet long, and if the branches mingled with the upturned earth were anything to go by, she had hit quite a lot on her way down.

At the end of the path, Viktoriya sat, clutching at her…

At her arm. Or, what _had _been her arm. It had been twisted and mangled from Sioux's attack, and her fall and roll hadn't done her any wonders-

I decided to cut off that time-wasting train of thought to focus on something much more important: getting her help.

As I sprinted to her position, I activated my radio, trying to reach our forward operating base and trying not to panic.

I crashed into the snow around the tree as I powered the Type 97. "Don't worry, Visha. You'll be-"

"My lost lamb."

I froze, quickly realizing why my attempts to contact our base were failing. My eyes shot upwards to find that _Visha _was-

She smirked at me. "It seems that not even revoking your ability to use my blessing has given you the motivation to pray to me earnestly."

I grit my teeth, opening my mouth to retort.

He cut me off. "Well, it is no matter. You will soon learn the error of your ways."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. It seemed he was in a preachy mood today, if he wasn't letting me-

"Hardy har har, very witty of you," he said. I scowled as I realized that he could still read my mind, and he smirked at me again.

"So, my lost lamb, I have decided that beating you into the ground is not working. Instead, I will give you an ultimatum."

I raised an eyebrow. He usually gave me ultimatums, but the line about not trying to beat me half to death was new at least. He'd make a great comedian, I was sure.

He raised an eyebrow, but he seemed unperturbed by my running commentary. "Right now, Sioux is hurtling into Moskva. She will, quite conveniently, take out portions of their top command. I'm sure I don't need to tell you what happens to the Russy Federation if that happens, no?"

I didn't need to be told that. I might have been young, but the end of the Cold War was still part of my memories.

I also knew that some other bastard ten times worse than whoever she took out would probably rise in their places.

I was not convinced by that promise.

He glared at me. "I was getting to that."

He cleared his throat, and I held back the urge to curse him for moving Viktoriya's body to do this. "Sioux will die, obviously, but one of the people who will kick the bucket is named Lavrentiy Beria, a pedophile obsessed with raping you."

I blinked rapidly. He smiled. "Have no fear, _his _death will cost you nothing. I dislike pedophiles and communists just as much as you do."

I balked at the thought that we had anything in common, but I supposed it was inevitable that he couldn't hate _everything _that I liked, though hating specific groups of people was certainly a… _unique _way of comparing two people.

His smile became much more… mercenary. "If you want _more _of those bastards dead, however, it will cost you."

I rolled my eyes. "I need not pray to you. The war is almost over here, and, if our reports are to believe, everything in the west, south, and north is doing fine."

He glared at me, and then gestured down to who he was using as his current mouthpiece. "Fine. You will find that _not _praying to me carries certain consequences."

My eyes widened. The death of a bunch of political officers of the Russy Federation was a tiny carrot compared to the stick of the death of one of my most trusted officers. I glared, opened my mouth and-

He scoffed. "Oh, I can't kill her personally. I can do _worse._ You haven't ever had to deal with depression, my lost lamb. I assure you, it _won't _be pretty, and that's if she _doesn't _lose the arm."

He chuckled. "Who knows? She might even die of some disease if she doesn't get treatment soon enough, and there are _very _few supplies out here on the Eastern Front…"

I felt my hands clenching from a desire to strangle him. How-

"Pray. To. Me. _Earnestly._ Allow yourself to believe that I really am _God_, for a few moments. If you do that, she'll be fine. The Russy Federation will collapse. You might even find yourself a comfortable rear-echelon position from which to watch the results of the war from."

I breathed in.

The deaths of a bunch of communist bastards didn't really matter to me. Moskva would fall, with the help of the nations the Empire had liberated, whether or not its rulers were dead.

The promise of a rear-echelon position wasn't that appealing, either. I would get that the moment the war was won anyway, and I didn't even know if staying in the military long-term was a good idea, if World War II began to roll around.

It was Viktoriya's safety, however, that tempted me the most. She was a loyal, diligent, hard working woman who had stuck to me through thick and thin. I was honestly remiss in not thanking her for all the help she had given me, and calling her my friend would probably not be amiss either.

Like any other human, she would be… devastated by the loss of an arm, and while I wasn't sure _how _he'd get her to fall into depression, I didn't doubt it was impossible, if the blank spots in my memory were anything to go by.

Still…

I breathed out. "Sorry, Being X. While I'll admit that having a sane conversation with you is much better than you just screaming at me, my answer is still no."

I flinched back as Viktoriya's face warped from a disarmingly even smile into a horrifying visage of hatred. Where-

"Fine! Sioux might be dead already, but know this, my lost lamb: I'll get you yet!"

My radio crackled loudly in my ear, and I winced away, cursing.

I regained my senses soon enough-

To watch Viktoriya grabbing her rifle by the wrong end. She smirked at me, and the rifle flew, straight and true, into her stomach.

He had _lied._ Of course he had. He could stop _time,_ forcing Viktoriya to try and kill herself was a-

I wanted to cry out the name of that damned thing, but I had no time. Quick as a flash, I ripped away the rifle and began applying pressure to the wound in her stomach.

She blinked as she realized what was going on around her. "T- Tanya?"

I glared. "We are still in a war zone! My rank, Serebryakov!"

My shouting came from my panic. She looked down, at her stomach, and her hands.

I felt my face contort as she looked to her arm, and I finally decided to boost her with enough Pain-Reduction formulas to make even _my _head swim.

It was enough. She was out like a light, and I felt myself taking off in the direction of our base.

I had to save her, I had to save her, I _had _to save-

-OxOxO-

_**April 10th, 1944:**_

"VISHA!"

I shot up. We _had _to get her to a hospital or she would d-

I blinked. I wasn't flying through the air anymore, clutching onto Visha as she tried to say that it had been worth it, as long as I survived. The others weren't trying desperately to keep up.

Instead…

"Tanya!"

I felt something impact my chest, and I looked down to see that Visha was staring up at me, fear and dread being replaced with relief and joy in her eyes, which were red and splotchy – probably from crying. She looked a bit underfed, too, but I found my eyes drawn into her's.

I smiled down at her. _This _was why I loved her.

Sure, we had known each other for something like two decades now, battling on every front imaginable in the last war and on more than I would have liked during this one.

Sure, I had taken one look at what this world had for psychiatrists and treatments to help with mental stress and decided I would stick by her and help her through whatever Being X had planned for her, since it _was _my fault that she was caught up with that bastard.

Sure, we had infiltrated the Nazis and, uh… made the world a better place by murdering a few dozen people side by side.

Sure, the sex was absolutely, mind-numbingly _wonderful…_

But _this… _staring at her face and feeling how much she cared for me from just her eyes and feeling her embrace and-

"Ahem."

I blinked. I realized I had been leaning in towards Visha, who was now beginning to turn bright red. I looked around.

Thankfully, it was just my friends. Elya was giving us that damn smirk she _always _wore whenever we were thinking about finding a nice, comfy bed to fuck each other in for an hour.

Weiss was giving me a cheeky grin and a thumbs up, while Neumann was wiggling his eyebrows. I raised my right hand, flipping them all off-

"_Ahem."_

I turned to my left to find that no, it wasn't just my friends. A doctor was standing there with an eyebrow raised an unbearable smile on her face.

I glowered at her as she walked towards Elya and handed her a wad of _Reichsmarcs_. I squinted.

"I thought my rules on betting were clear, Elya," I groused. She just stuck her tongue out at me.

"C'mon. It's _way _too easy to get money from people who think that you two aren't head over heels for each other."

I sighed. "Well, what was it about?"

She shrugged. "Oh, just that you two would wake up and immediately call for the other."

I glared at her for a second right alongside Visha, but then I shook my head and stared at Visha. "Wait, what does she mean, 'the _two _of you wake up'?"

Visha's face grew apologetic, and she tapped her hands together. "Ah, well… when you flew up to save Berun, I might have chased after you a _bit _too closely. I was put in a similar coma to you until last week…"

I scowled at her. I wanted to remind her about our agreement never to try and repeat what had happened in those final hours of World War One, but I stayed my hand. I needed to figure out what happened while…

We were both out, which left…

I looked at Elya, who smiled triumphantly at me. "Not to worry! I've been handling things for two whole months. The war's been wrapped up, actually."

I smiled widely, even though I felt a kernel of dread beginning to blossom. Two months was a _long _time to be out, especially when the next fifty plus years of worldwide politics were being set out.

She smiled. "The Ispagna Collective finally saw reason and joined us. With the whole of Europe against them – and another Atom Bomb – they finally surrendered. We've been hashing things out with the Americans and the Akitsushimans for around a month, now."

I gulped inaudibly. Elya…

Visha and I had not let a great many people in on what we wanted to do after the war was over.

Most of what anyone knew was that I wanted a 'Unified Nations' up and running, as I had outlined at the Tver Conference. Other than that, I had mostly wanted to set the nation on the correct course and make sure it didn't turn into actual Nazi Germany.

Things… were likely spiraling out of control. Still, I did what I always did when things like this occurred.

I smiled happily and I congratulated Elya. "Good. I know that if you were in charge, things are probably progressing wonderfully."

She began to blush, but I quickly made sure to burst her bubble. "Of course, I might have to make a few small adjustments," I said slowly, keeping in mind that Elya could be very… _zealous _when I left her unchecked.

She nodded her head and smiled. "Naturally!"

I blinked. There was just a bit too much sweetness in that response. I narrowed my eyes and began to look at all the others.

Weiss and Neumann were still smiling at me widely. The doctor's smile was also very… plastic.

I turned to Visha. She had up her poker face, and while everyone else on the planet might not be able to figure it out, I knew what to look for.

I looked down from her face to her hands.

Her right hand was gripping her left. She must have noticed my gaze because, slowly, her right hand – which needed to have its nails trimmed a bit, if I was honest – showed that her left hand was twitching erratically.

I looked up at her, and she sighed.

Just as Being X had claimed, she had lost the arm. These days, prosthetics were a fair bit more advanced – one of the smaller reasons I had even accepted the position of head of the NSDAP was to pour funding into getting help for veterans in general and to advance prosthetic limbs in particular.

Still, it wasn't like what they had been making back in my first world. Computers were still in their infancy, which meant that the hand, along with her arm and even part of her shoulder, were constructed from wood and metal.

I knew that plastics were beginning to advance enough – I had poured money into that field too – that a plastic model was supposed to be in the works as a gift for her birthday.

The only other option was to use the formulas usually associated with the Active Barrier formula to instead make a 'shield' in the form of an arm, but making something with so much complexity and with so much volume was only possible for twenty minutes before the drain became too much.

Still, she managed to use her mana to give her replacement limb a surprising amount of control that other, non-mage veterans didn't have available, and I knew that those spells tended to make her replacement arm twitch whenever she was nervous.

I raised an eyebrow as I moved on my bed, drawing closer to her. I pushed my hands forward to grip her hands. "Visha? What-"

I blinked. I looked down.

I could feel and see her cold, still-twitching left hand in the grip of my right hand.

I could not feel the warmth and reassurance of her right hand with my left hand.

I breathed in deeply.

In fact, I could not feel my left hand at all, which correlated to the fact that I could also see that my _hand was gone._

The doctor must have noticed my eyes widening. "Sir, please. The Type 95 Mk. II, as you know, was partially radioactive. The number and thickness of the Active Barriers you placed around your arm ensured that it's explosion only obliterated your left arm up to the elbow. Your proximity to such an explosion meant that a great number of your organs were… ah, _jostled_. You suffered from head trauma as a result of your fall and proximity to the explosion as well. If it hadn't been for the fast action of Vice Fuhrer Serebryakov, you might have died."

I looked at the first most powerful woman in the Reich, and she grinned. "I told you learning those Medical formulas was a good idea! And… even if I did get knocked out by radiation sickness, you-"

I glared at her. "_Radiation sickness?_"

She stayed silent, and I sighed tiredly. I wasn't even out of bed yet, and I felt drained…

I nodded slowly. "Well… I suppose that that's that, then."

Everyone around me blinked and I held up my hands-

Or, just my hand…

I shook my head and looked up at them. "Oh, I am mad, do not worry. But I assume that… Berun still stands?"

Everyone else nodded proudly, and I breathed a sigh of relief. "Fine. Doctor, I assume that I am in a… stable condition?"

She nodded, and I grinned. "Good. Everyone but Viktoriya, get out. I want to speak with her."

Elya gave me that damn smirk as she left, but I only rolled my eyes. I wanted a progress report on… everything that had happened while I was out, and Visha was the best positioned to give it to me, since she knew I was from an alternate world.

They left and the door was quickly closed. I held up a hand as she made to sit on the bed. I turned around to stare down at my pillow.

I brought it up to my face and screamed into it for a long five seconds.

Thanks to Being X, I might walk out of this room in a few weeks and find that Elya had turned the Reich into what everyone thought it was:

A despotic nightmare where free-will was a one-way-ticket into a prison camp, the free market was a desk toy for the ruler, and everyone wanted nothing more than to stab each other in the back for a small bit of their leader's favor.

After those five seconds, I set the pillow down and found that Visha was biting her lip in the way she knew I loved.

I _stared _at her, but when I saw mirth begin to dance in her eyes, I shook my head. "You too? We have work to do."

She began to pout, and I bit my lip in a way I _knew _she adored. "Well, we can get to that later. Just… I need to know what's been going on."

She clapped her hands together. I patted the bed, and she sat down. I laid my head in her lap, and she began to stroke my hair as she started to talk. "Well, Elya ordered for an atom bomb to be dropped on Dover, and with the Ispagnans joining us, they've unconditionally surrendered. We began to send in troops a few days after they surrendered and began the occupation. The Americans…"

And as her voice washed over me, I remembered Being X's words to me over two months ago.

What _would _happen to this world and to the Reich when I ended up dying, assuming I could hold onto control or, fancifully, if I ever got voted out of office?

I was sure that no matter how hard I tried, I would _never _lose this position without being killed.

With Elya heading the SS – who did act as the espionage forces of the Reich, searching for foreign information and internal dissent and who _hadn't _overseen the deaths of over six million religious and ethnic minorities – there wouldn't likely be any dissent, within the government or in the wider populace, against my rule organized enough to kill or throw me out.

Especially not after the _last _assassination attempt.

I sighed as Visha continued on. Being X had said something about reincarnating me forever, which meant that death was unlikely to be my final end… which meant I probably needed to start reading.

While it was possible he'd send me somewhere like this world that was based on Earth and its history, it was just as likely that he'd focus on the whole 'unscientific world' portion of his sentencing me to a new life.

I might end up in an alternate history of the planet, or I might end up in… Middle Earth, or something…

I suppressed the urge to shiver. Regardless, it seemed I'd be spending a lot of time educating myself when I wasn't working. I had to be prepared for whatever he decided to throw at me, even if it's something unbelievable.

I was suddenly brought out of my musings by something Visha said. "Wait, he's _what_?"

She blinked, and then she smirked. "Oh yes. Schugel's been imprisoned for giving the Type 95 Mk. II a self-destruct feature, as well as on suspicion of him being an informant for the Albish."

I waved my arm. "Well, he didn't do it! He helped, sure, but it was-"

She cut me off. "I _know _it was Being X… but the people need someone to blame, and he _did _design it. Besides, you don't really like him that much, do you?"

I shook my head. "No… but he could prove to be useful-"

She shook her head again. "I know… but don't you think he's outlived his usefulness? He's in control of too much right now for how compromised he is. Being X isn't a threat to take lightly, is he?"

I sighed, privately congratulating myself for telling Visha the truth all those years ago. I couldn't have done everything without her. "Fine…"

She was silent for a moment, and then I began to speak again. "Is this going to be a big thing?

I could tell that she was raising a skeptical eyebrow even without staring up at her face. "Are you kidding? He'll go up with the other Communists, and probably a lot of the Albish, too."

I sighed tiredly. As the Federation had collapsed and we captured most of their leadership – along with Dzhugashvili – the Saratov trials had been… _rushed_.

We aired all of their dirty laundry and the crimes against humanity and the gulags. Elya said that the populace would be more complaint of our 'Decommunistization' of our areas of Russy if we showed them just how horrible their leaders were _before _we killed and murdered them.

In that effort, we had held on to quite a number of prisoners for after the war. I was sure that a fair number of them would be allowed to live if they pledged to help the Reich scientifically, like the Germans had with the Americans and Soviets, but most of them were probably either going to die or be imprisoned.

I sighed unhappily. A whole slew of the Albish were likely to join them, considering it was the Albish I had been blaming for all of the problems of 'Germania,' back when that had been the country I headed instead of the Reich.

I could have easily blamed the Francois Republic for our problems, but I had taken one look at their government at the time – a darker flavor of socialism that would have no problem with restarting World War One and receiving aid from the Commies – and decided that throwing rocks into the North Sea was a much better idea.

The Albish didn't share a land border with us, after all, and they had more important things to deal with – like their colonies being pissed about being colonies – than a tin-pot dictator calling them meanies.

Thanks to their resistance to us and that original rhetoric, a whole lot of people were going to die, no matter which way I managed to spin things, or even if I did nothing.

I focused on my surroundings to find that Visha was staring down at me. I smiled, and I…

I stopped. The war was over… which meant…

"Hey, you wanna get married now?"

-OxOxO-

**A/N 1: **Well, hello! I've lost a bit of motivation to work of Third Time's the Charm, so I decided to work on this instead.

I also altered the last chapter a bit to reflect some… changes I'll be making…

Man, doing research for this story is _wild,_ but it's been fun. If you all have any suggestions, give them to me! I'll probably use them and credit you!


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